Sports Betting Laws Embody Hypocrisy

I live in a state that has a lottery. There's a better chance Jessica Alba will show up at my front door wearing only a towel than there is of me winning the Florida Lotto, but the state begs me to gamble on its game of chance.

So why can't I place a bet on the Magic-Celtics game?

For one thing, I would never bet on Dwight Howard making a free throw, but that's another story. For now I'm trying to figure out why you can play games with impossible odds but you can't use your vast sports knowledge to make a buck.

Or lose a buck.

Either way, the fight is heating up. Delaware was considering becoming the first state east of the Mississippi River to legalize sports gambling, but the bill died in the state's House of Representatives last week. That sent a wave of high-fives through NFL and NCAA headquarters, but the joy will not last. A New Jersey lawmaker filed suit in March challenging the state's ban on sports betting.

Legalized sports gambling is a hurricane that's gathering strength and just waiting to slam into your state.

I say good. Not that I want anyone to gamble any more than I want them to smoke, drink or do anything else that requires a few Hail Marys. I just can't stand the towering hypocrisy of the forces against legalized sports gambling.

The NFL loves what gambling does for its popularity, but it turns into Church Lady whenever the word is mentioned. As for the NCAA, would March Madness even exist if not for office pools?

The only groups with a legitimate objection are anti-addiction advocates. Common sense says the more opportunities there are to gamble, the more likely some people are to get hooked.

So is that increased danger worth it?

Not if you have a relative or friend who's trashed his or her life making bets. But, like alcohol, the majority of users do so responsibly. If you can't stamp it out (see: Prohibition, 1919-1933), you might as well regulate it.

In Delaware alone, sports gambling was expected to provide $55 million a year in tax revenue. The politicians probably would have wasted it, but it might have eased the state's $750 million deficit.

The NCAA, NFL and other major sports organizations don't care about that. Neither, apparently, do the 49 states not named "Nevada." I am willing to go over to their side, and you should be too, if only they would answer a few simple questions.

To the NFL:
Why is it okay to play games in London, where there are betting parlors on every other corner, when you won't even allow a commercial for Las Vegas to be shown during the Super Bowl?

Why are you partners with ESPN, which has a season-long Pigskin Pick 'Em contest where fans pick games both straight up and against the point spread. And shouldn't Chris Berman's "Swami" schtick be declared a threat, since it might make everyone think they too can predict winners?

"The notion that the NFL has aggressively and actively fought against betting on its games is belied by the very programming the NFL indirectly endorses and from which it handsomely profits," Delaware Gov. Jack Markell wrote to Roger Goodell.

To the NCAA:
How can you threaten to ban playoff games in states that legalize sports betting, when you allow the Western Athletic Conference to have its basketball tournament in Reno?

The Mountain West has its tournament in Las Vegas, which oddly enough is also site of the Las Vegas Bowl. Five Pac 10 schools have casino ads in their stadiums and game programs. For $2.5 million, New Mexico recently lined up Route 66 Casino Hotel as its "exclusive gaming partner."

Schools may be allowed to conduct their own business. But if gambling is such a dire threat, shouldn't the governing body act?

To the lawmakers:
Forty states have lotteries. When was the last time you saw somebody who didn't look like an extra from COPS buying a lottery ticket? Lotteries are basically taxes on the ignorant, and states are happy to prey on hopeless dreams.

Delaware didn't reject sports betting to protect vulnerable citizens. It rejected it to protect its horse-racing and casino industries.

Why is it okay to risk your money on horses, greyhounds, Keno, slot machines, roulette, blackjack and Powerball, but it's not okay to bet on Monday Night Football?

Now we'll take a break from the questioning. I hear somebody knocking on my front door.

I'm almost as sure you'll get back to me with good answers as I am that I'll be spending the next 15 minutes helping Jessica Alba look for her clothes.